


Discoveries, Unreasonable Demands and a Reunion

by QSF



Series: Dreams, escape and afterwards [4]
Category: Kamen Rider OOO
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-10
Updated: 2014-02-24
Packaged: 2018-01-11 21:10:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1177969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QSF/pseuds/QSF
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a long trip home to Japan, but Ankh and Eiji are finding ways to keep themselves busy. Making up for lack of smut in my last story, so quite NSFW. Spoilers for the end of the show.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Discoveries

Soft hair.  
Soft and pale.  
Like the first light of dawn.  
Ankh’s head is heavy on Eiji’s shoulder.

Peace. Eiji is not sure when he has felt that last. Not like this. Not this deep contentment. Something had changed last night, broken maybe, though it was a break that needed to happen. Ankh had cried, at least he was almost sure of it. The Greed had denied it, but… maybe former Greed was a better name. Or just Ankh. Human? He could imagine the protests that would cause if he said that out loud. But he doesn’t need to say it, just like he doesn’t need the things most people take for granted. What he needed was what Ankh gave him after all, in ways he probably didn’t even realize.

Need. He had started to understand that last night. He was needed. Ankh needed him every bit as much as Eiji needed him. Not that he thought there would be any confessions of love. No vows. Nothing more than what they already had; Ankh’s head on Eiji’s shoulder, a skinny arm thrown haphazardly across his chest. Breath that tickled his neck. And heartbeats. Two of them. Still strange enough to take his breath away, and stranger still when Ankh mutters something in his sleep and the change slowly creeps over his arm, transforming it from flesh to armour. Did he have a nightmare? The claws bite into his chest and Eiji sucks in a cry and shifts the hand instead. It twitches in his hand like a wild animal.

“Ankh?” The hand stills, the armour fades.

“Mhm?” The mumble is a sleepy one, whatever dreams that haunted him left behind.

“I’ve been thinking…” Eiji lets go of Ankh’s hand, stroking it with his fingertips as he waits for the familiar tension of wakefulness to appear in the languid Greed. “Do you want to go back home? Back to everybody?”

There is a pause there that causes Eiji’s heart to race before he realizes that the hesitation is most likely due to Ankh not being fully awake yet. The Greed shifts and yawns, stretching like a cat though Eiji is pretty sure he would resent the comparison.

“Home…” Ankh pulls himself up and drapes himself over Eiji, all angles and limbs and sharp, sharp elbows. Light. Maybe too light a weight on his chest, but he’s still there, still comfortable. Warm. “I am home.”

The blush comes before Eiji has a chance to stop it, followed by an embarrassed laugh. But he can’t look away, because Ankh has him trapped, nose to nose, no way of escaping the terrible earnestness of those words.

“I mean…” Eiji starts, swallowing hard. “I mean back to Japan. To see everybody.”

“I would like to see my nest again,” Ankh says, still pondering Eiji’s face as if he was trying to decipher every minute flicker of emotion.

"Good. Because I sort of promised Hina I would. She… she missed you too." He can’t be sure what the look on Ankh’s face means, but he settles for cautious happiness. At least there are no protests or grimaces.

"And the detective?" Ankh asks a question that Eiji honestly hadn’t anticipated. It had never been in his nature to ask about others before, but then again, maybe both their natures were changing now that they weren’t under the kind of insane pressure that their year together in Tokyo had brought. Carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders.

"Shingo is okay with it." Eiji smiled a little, voice softening. It still felt odd talking about him this personally, but Ankh wouldn’t have been able to be brought back if it hadn’t been for him. At least not like this. Like he remembered. Another thing he would tell Ankh later. Much later.

"Not that I care," Ankh quickly clarified, grinding his hips against Eiji’s, the kiss quietening both their moans. "It’s morning now. You said we’d continue in the morning."

"You’ll wear me out." Eiji laughs as he protests, because it’s a half-hearted one. Even if Ankh did manage to do that, he wouldn’t mind. He could understand the former Greed’s desperation for touch, just the brief experience he had with it when he was slowly sinking into purple nothingness had made him more aware of what an important thing it was. And he had waited a year and a half for this, never knowing when he would succeed in his intentions, never knowing what Ankh would feel when he was brought back.

Eiji knew very well how lucky he was.

Lucky to be able to touch Ankh’s skin at last. To trace the sharp angles of the shoulder blades, the raised pebbles of the spine. Too skinny. Had he been as skinny when he had been wearing Shingo’s body? He didn’t know, and just thinking about it made him feel vaguely uneasy. It had been so complicated back then. Ankh had chided him for never getting around to admitting that he wanted him back then but…

It hadn’t been that easy. It had been Hina’s brother he had strange feelings about, Hina’s brother’s body poured into far too tight jeans, Hina’s brother’s lips he couldn’t stop looking at. How could he have… the answer was simple. He could not. Not when he had promised to bring Shingo back to Hina. Not when he had promised to do that even if it meant he had to fight Ankh. Even if he had to break his own heart to do it.

"Pay attention!" Ankh’s voice was followed by a sharp bite to his shoulder, causing Eiji to yelp loudly.

"Sorry…" He willed himself to open his eyes and smile, to stay here in the moment rather than slide back towards the past. He had lived there for too long already. Instead he wrapped his legs around Ankh, grinding their hips together again, smiling a little as he saw the former Greed’s eyes relax in pleasure. "I’ll make it up to you."

"Damn right you will." Ankh did a little ghost thrust, causing Eiji’s smile to catch in his throat as he hardened. Too many implications.

They hadn’t gone further than mouths and hands. Had seen to need to. Eiji wasn’t sure what he wanted yet, and for Ankh, it seemed that as long as the sensations were intense enough he was happy. And they had time now. Time to figure things out at their own pace. He hoped.

No. He believed.

Shifting his weight, he rolled them both over ending up on top, feeling Ankh tense, his face contorting in a reflexive snarl before it turned into a blissful groan as Eiji slipped his hand down. Ankh’s reflexes were still cued to battle, and Eiji could understand that. Took it as a challenge to unlock the frown, to make him burrow back in the pillows with a pleased grunt as he spread his legs a little to provide Eiji access.

It was surprisingly natural really. Eiji had thought it would feel… maybe more complicated? Maybe he should be a bit ashamed of what he wanted? But he had never really managed to fit in with what he should feel, had always been more interested in other people than in how he was perceived. When he was younger there had been pressure, sure, his family was well known, and he was already considered an eccentric. But while being a humanitarian might be a bit of an odd a life choice for the son of a successful politician, being gay was… well, unthinkable.

And here he was with his lips wrapped around another man’s cock, tugging a bit at a pair of warm and relaxed balls. Maybe it was lucky that he didn’t really talk to his family anymore. Not since last year’s O-higan, when he had made time to visit the family tomb. He supposed he might be disrespecting his ancestors just thinking about that while doing this. So be it. He had shed the trappings of his past life as penance, and had never figured he would have someone with which to share the ruins that remained. And now he had. Someone impatient.

"You’re a damn tease!" Ankh’s accusation came with an angry glare as he propped himself up on his elbows, growling in frustration as Eiji had pulled back again so the sensations wouldn’t be too intense and the ending come too fast.

"I suppose so." Eiji felt the smile come unbidden. Maybe razing his life to the ground had been the stupid, self-destructive act that people had accused him off. But the ground was just bare, not barren. He could rebuild. Rebuild it into something he wanted, and OOO had been the first building block there. OOO and Ankh.

"Well, you said you’d make things up for me. Stop smirking and get to work." Ankh’s words were crude. Demanding. Honest.

Eiji felt his smile go wider as he sucked a finger into his mouth, watching Ankh watching him intently. Hungrily. He had never cared for mirrors, and now Ankh provided all the reflections that he needed.

"Just lay back and relax," he urged, easing one slim leg to the side so he could press the tip of his finger against… Eiji found himself hard pressed to even think that sentence, there weren’t really any words to describe… any good words anyway. Not ones that described how surprisingly warm it felt, how soft, the sphincter giving a little as he increased the pressure.

Would Ankh slap him? Probably not. It would be a fist, but that was okay. Eiji nodded to himself in determination as he eased the finger inside, watching Ankh’s face as it went through a surprising array of emotions, preparing just a little for the inevitable blow. But it didn’t come, instead there was a frown, a grimace and a gasp, the muscle holding his finger so tightly he thought that maybe it was constricting the flow of blood. But no punch, just a tenseness that made him wary, eyebrows shooting up in a worried look, getting an annoyed hiss in return.

The annoyance shifted when he moved his finger, just a little, the saliva making it slick enough that it could settle in properly. Held tight. So warm. He wasn’t sure if it was Ankh’s or his own pulse that he could feel. It didn’t matter. What did matter was the reaction when he shifted a little so he could bring his mouth down again, causing a shiver to go through Ankh’s body. His armoured hand had flickered to life again, claws buried in the bed, and luckily the mattress were foam that just scrunched and punctured and did not rip. Ankh pushed up when he sucked deeper, the movement making his finger slide in deeper as well until his knuckles rested snugly against Ankh, finger curling a little to adapt.

It was a magnificent spectacle to watch. Eiji found himself sneaking glances when he could, past the flat, twitching stomach, up to Ankh’s face, completely lost now. Focused not on him, but on the sensations he provided. It was… maybe this was a power that Eiji could love without feeling conflicted about it, because being able to do something like this for another person could never be wrong.

He made it last as long as he could.


	2. Unreasonable Demands

"I suppose that we can sell the jeep for cash." Eiji snuck a glance at Ankh in the mirror as he washed his spare pair of underwear in the bathroom sink. They had needed another shower after their exertions this morning, and as it was unlikely they would stay another night, he had decided to take advantage of the luxuries while they had them.

"Hmm?" Ankh looked amused as he preened over Eiji’s shoulder, making sure that his hair looked the way he wanted to. "And here you didn’t even want me to take it."

"I don’t like stealing," Eiji admitted, following Ankh’s fingers as they buttoned the loose shirt. Their bodies kept brushing together in the small bathroom, making the air feel electric. "But I have to say that they deserved it. And we need money for the ticket home."

Ankh hadn’t asked again about the people hunting them, but he felt the curious look as he looked down and focused on his underwear. Ankh wanted answers. Wanted the truth. But the truth wasn’t important here; it was just something that he wanted to forget. Shake off. Soon they would be back in japan and far out of reach. He hoped. The fact that he had been forced to transform into OOOs last time meant that maybe there would be more than men with guns next time. If he let there be a next time.

"Money…" Ankh huffed again, pressing closer to Eiji since he was finished dressing. "Whatever, you deal with it."

Ankh’s bare hands slid over Eiji’s equally bare midriff. He was still wearing nothing but his underwear, and the feeling of the fully dressed man behind him was enough to make him sigh a little wistfully as he pressed back. It had just been an hour since they’d left each other breathless on the bed, but Ankh’s skin was a new addiction. But he needed to keep his head clear now, needed to focus on what was important.

Even if he wanted nothing more than just crawl back into bed and stay there.

"I was thinking…" Eiji’s voice cracked a little, because Ankh’s hand had slid lower, teasing him through his boxers. It wasn’t enough to make him harden yet, but the twitches made it difficult to think. "We need to… I mean I have a passport, but you…" … didn’t technically exist. "Can you still transform into just an arm?" It was the only thing he could think of to get the greed past customs. A souvenir, like the masks that Yuusuke always made sure to pick up.

It was only when Ankh pulled back his hand with a hiss that he realized he might have said something wrong.

"Fuck you for even suggesting that!" Harsh words, an even harsher stare, and Ankh stomped out of the bathroom followed by an apologetic Eiji.

"I’m sorry," Eiji tried, reaching out for Ankh only to have his hand slapped away. "I don’t know how to get a fake passport, and you can’t just sneak on a plane. That way you could pass as luggage, it would just be for a few hours." It made sense, maybe it wasn’t dignified, but it would get them back and why was Ankh looking at him like that?

Like he just had his heart torn out and stomped on? Like he was pondering doing the literal act to Eiji?

"what?" Eiji just managed to get the word out before Ankh’s face hardened and his arm flickered into armour a second before it smashed into Eiji’s gut.

It hurt, more so because it was completely unexpected. Eiji stumbled backwards as he tried to catch a breath, watching Ankh pull back, eyes wide, mouth a tight line. There was a moment there of hesitation, then the former Greed simply huffed and stormed from the room, the door slammed open so hard it nearly bounced back in his head.

"Ankh!" Eiji found the breath he had been looking for, running after Ankh out in the hallway. "Wait a second…"

His words had no effect. Eiji could feel the same horror curling in his gut as when Ankh had reformed the first time, and his first act had been walking over to Shingo and nearly strangle the man before his control faded and his body dissolved once more. Something was going horribly wrong, and time slowed down and he could see Ankh looking back over his shoulder as he ran, a quick glance, revealing a haunted face, eyes nearly black. Maybe this was a dream again; maybe he was having a nightmare, because Ankh reached the open window at the end of the hallway and jumped through it without a second thought.

They were on the third floor.

Eiji nearly knocked over the guests who were just stepping out of the elevator in his hurry, but once he’d reached the window, any trace of Ankh was already gone.

It was only then he realized that he was still just in his underwear. And that the two complete strangers who had started to curse at him had stopped and were now looking rather embarrassed, at least the woman. She was blushing wildly, looking away, while the man looked like he wasn’t sure what to do, except keep cursing in a language Eiji didn’t know.

"I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I’m really, really sorry." English. French. Japanese. The bow was quick, repeated once, and then he ran back to the room without waiting for a reply.

Ankh was gone. Clothes. He needed clothes. Pants. Shirt. Shoes and they took too long but he had no choice and Ankh was already gone and what had he said? What had even happened? Grabbing keys and phone he rushed out again, glad that the corridor at least was empty this time. He had no time for arguments.

Except he was having one now, wasn’t he? An argument? With Ankh? Except you couldn’t have an argument with someone who wasn’t there and why had he run off instead of attacking like he normally did? Was what he had done so much worse? What had he even done?

The stairs are faster than the elevator, but it leaves him out of breath once he reaches the street, more from panic than exhaustion. Two directions. Ankh could be anywhere. What had he…

… oh.

Eiji feels his knees give out before they do, and manage to sit down instead of topple over, resting his back against a wall. People had to move around him, but he couldn’t move, not right now. He needed to breathe first. Think. Because he had… he hadn’t been thinking. At all.

Ankh was more than just a hand now. He was whole. Had a body. And Eiji had suggested that he’d give that up. Even if he could recreate himself. And what if he couldn’t? What if he had agreed and then… the thought was too much to process. He just hadn’t been thinking. He had been too used to Ankh being just a hand. Detaching himself when it was handy. But he hadn’t done that since… and he couldn’t even be sure this body would last, could he? Ankh was probably worried. Maybe even scared. And Eiji had treated him like… well, a thing.

He really was an idiot, but for once Ankh was not around to tell him so.

—-

It took a while, even after Eiji had managed to get to his feet. It took a while to get his head together. Start breathing. Start looking.

High places. Parks. That’s where he usually ended up. He didn’t know this city, but neither did Ankh, so he went with what he could see. Tried to guess where the former Greed would have stormed off to. Tried to resist the urge to transform and take to the rooftops and look from up there. Instead he walked. Ran for a bit. Walked back. Looked elsewhere. Even shouted, though that gave him strange looks.

But it took a while. And he didn’t find Ankh in a tree. Or on a building.

He found him hunched on a bench at the edge of a small park, eating an ice cream. Sitting on the backrest. Feet on the seat. Eyes distant.

Eiji didn’t run up to him immediately, because there was that fear that Ankh might run again. That he had ruined something good. Something important. So he watched. Ankh stared straight ahead, focused on the ice cream. He didn’t move. He didn’t look over in Eiji’s direction. Why was it so hard to make his feet take that first step forward? It shouldn’t be. He was sorry. So sorry. But if he didn’t say, Ankh wouldn’t know. And for him to know he had to walk over there.

Walk over and sit down.   
The bench had room enough for two.

"I… didn’t think." Eiji started, perched on the edge of the bench, because Ankh sprawled over most of it.

"Obviously." Ankh looked away, but moved his foot so there would be room for Eiji to sit properly.

More room. Eiji didn’t dare to move closer. Instead he looked down at Ankh’s feet. They were bare, he had left without his sandals. A bit dirty. Neat toenails. Human feet. They made his heart break a little more.

"I won’t do it!" Ankh broke the silence when Eiji failed to find the words. He looked over at him when Eiji was afraid to do anything but look down.

"I know." Eiji’s sigh was so heavy that it felt like his lungs would implode, but he did manage to look up, meeting Ankh’s carefully guarded look. "I should never have suggested it."

"Damn right." Emotions twitched over Ankh’s angular face, faster than Eiji could keep up. Anger? Disappointment? Fear? Relief? He wasn’t sure what was really there and what he was just imagining. "I am not a thing."

"I love you, you now?" Eiji was as surprised at the words coming out of his mouth as Ankh, but there were no room for lies there, not now. He had faced down more frightening monsters than his own emotions.

"eh?" Ankh blinked, emotions coalescing into a look of complete puzzlement.

"I mean…" Eiji pushed on, looking up at Ankh now, willing his sincerity to show. "I loved you even back then. Probably. Even though I was so afraid to care. Even when I was too scared to admit it even to myself. Even when I swore I’d free Shingo from you. Even when I said I would stand in your way if you ever turned against humanity."

"Even when I was a thing…" The words were quiet, almost contemplative, Ankh tilting his head as if he tried to figure out how to react.

"You never were a thing to me, Ankh." Eiji knows he is sincere there, and he really hopes that it shows.

Because it is the truth. Even knowing what the Greed were, he had never really seen Ankh as one of them. Not after the first few weeks at least. Not after learning that there was a person there. Someone who liked ice cream. Someone who preferred windows to doors. Someone who could be proud, annoyed, aggressive but… who tried. Even when he never admitted it. Someone who wasn’t kind, but who protected people that mattered. When it was needed.

"I paid for the ice cream." The admission is sudden and said with a huffed pout, as if it was half an insult, half a peace offering.

"That’s good." Eiji nods, feeling like he might start crying, but he smiles instead. Because in a way, it is as sweet and unexpected as a profession of love.

Actions always spoke louder than words with Ankh.

"We’re chased by enough people." Ankh didn’t move away when Eiji reached out a hand, running his fingers over the top of his bare foot, he just kept looking at him, angular, angry posture slowly relaxing.

"We are." Eiji sighed and reached into his pocket to pull out his phone.

He looked at it for a long moment, trying to come to a decision. When he had departed on this journey he had done it alone. People had lives to get back to. Careers to pick up or rebuild. Everybody except him. Those broken medals in his pocket had been his life, but Ankh was here now. Was slowly easing his foot in under Eiji’s thigh, a little point of contact that healed the last of the rifts inside him. Made everything worth it.

He had set out on this journey alone. Had refrained from asking for help from anybody, though he knew that Kougami would have loved putting his considerable resources to use in the cause of medal research. But even if that might have brought back Ankh faster, or more surely, it would also have left them in his debt. Ankh wouldn’t have a life of his own. Not the same way. Eiji would be forever grateful for Kougami’s aid, but he had never had any illusions that the man was doing it for his own interests. That it was just luck that had cast them on the same side, and that it might change in the future. Kougami was a fount of such unrivalled desire that it frightened him, and the thought of Ankh being used as leverage… no.

It was not a risk he was willing to take.

But Date had a point, back then. Had a point in that maybe it was okay to reach out a hand sometimes. Accept help. On his journey he had done so, would never have got Ankh back without the aid of others. People with no stake in his quest, friends old and friends new. Who didn’t ask questions. Who were willing to do what they did for the same reasons that he was. He hadn’t reached out his hand then, but he had at least not been afraid to grasp the ones stretched out to him.

But Ankh had paid for that ice cream.

Eiji calculated the time difference to Japan in his head to make sure it was alright to call, then took a deep breath and did so. Ankh was quiet beside him, as if he understood the importance of what Eiji was doing. The signals rang out, then a familiar voice answered, and he couldn’t help the smile blooming on his face.

"Hina?" Eiji wondered if she could hear the excitement in his voice, but in case she couldn’t he quickly added; "It worked. It really did. Ankh’s back." There was no scream of excitement in his ear, just a quiet relief and something that might have been sobs.

"Yes, he’s right here next to me," Eiji looked up at Ankh, who looked party annoyed, party amused. "I know. Fine, I will hug him from you. Though probably not as hard." The eyeroll made Eiji smile even wider. "And yes, about that, I was wondering…"

A deep breath. A moment of hesitation. But he could do this. He could reach out a hand. Hope that someone would take it.

"… is Satonaka there?"


	3. Chapter 3

It had only taken a few days to get everything together. Only a few days to make a miraculous rebirth official in paper as well as flesh. To Eiji, that could only mean one thing.

His friends had been counting on him to succeed.

No, more than that; they had planned for problems he had not even seen, had been prepared beforehand for the day when he would finally be strong enough to reach out a hand and ask for help. It had moved him almost to tears, but even then he hadn’t been prepared for the onslaught of emotions that came with picking up the small package, sent by express mail.

"You’re crying." Ankh’s voice was hard and brittle, covering up the worry that Eiji had learned to spot under the caustic surface.

"Sorry." He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, offering the passport to the man that it was created for. The accompanying letter he kept clutched to his chest. "It’s just…"

Eiji’s voice gave out; the last few days had been enough of a roller-coaster of guilt and making up that this had just been the last straw. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, but it hadn’t been this.

"Anko." Ankh growled in displeasure, turning the passport over in his hands. "This is that asshole Date at work, isn’t it?"

"Ankou," Eiji corrected, because of course this was the first thing the former Greed would jump at. "You need a proper Japanese name, it’s not like everybody is going to stop calling you Ankh just because it’s something else in the passport."

"Well," Ankh admitted with an annoyed grumbled. "At least it’s not ‘Ankypoo’." He held up the passport to look at the picture, which had to be of Shingo doing a rather good impression of Ankh’s smile and hair. For a moment he tried to match his smile to the one in the picture, then his face stilled, his brows drawing together in a frown.

Eiji swallowed hard, because if Ankh had spotted what had made Eiji tear up before, what would his reaction be?

"Anko Izumi." Ankh spoke the name softly, tilting his head to make sure he had read it right. The look he turned on Eiji was filled with questions.

"Anko Izumi." Eiji nodded, swallowing down the lump that threatened to resurge. The letter had rumpled slightly in his hand, and he wiped it smooth before looking down at it again to check the facts and also because looking at Ankh would definitely lead to more tears, and hugs, and he needed to keep some form of composure. "Officially you are Shingo and Hina’s half-brother. Their father… well, your ‘father’ too, didn’t realize that his ex-girlfriend was pregnant when she went back to Germany. She raised you there, and later, after she had died, you came back to Japan to find out about your heritage. There’s apparently some school records too, and a birth certificate and everything waiting for you back home."

"Trust those idiots to go completely overboard with everything." Ankh sounded annoyed enough that Eiji had to look up to see if the tone was real, but the tense face held the same sort of long suffering acceptance it had held when they had decided he needed a birthday celebration.

"Yes, that’s sort of their thing." Eiji scratched the back of his neck with a soft laugh. "Hina writes that since their parents are dead and their father didn’t have many other relatives, it was not much trouble on their end. And she wouldn’t mind another brother. Since she already saw you as one."

There was a strange, strangled noise from Ankh and he pushed the passport into his pocket, but he didn’t say anything.

"Shingo says that their father would understand, and that he hopes he wouldn’t have minded very much to have had a German girlfriend that close to the wedding. He also says that this makes you the older by a year, and that he hopes you won’t be too mean to your little brother."

That brought out a familiar huff, and Ankh’s lips twitched into a smirk. “More than I already was?”

"Taking over his body saved his life," Eiji pointed out.

"Still, they are idiots."

"Idiots that love you."

There was no reply at that, maybe because by then both their lips were busy.

…

The plane ride had made it real. Realer in some ways than the taste of Ankh’s skin on his tongue, the way he sometimes elbowed him in his sleep because turning around gently was apparently not in his DNA. But those could have been dreams, could have been wishful thinking, and having a stern-faced Japanese custom’s official check and approve of Ankh’s passport was not something Eiji had ever fantasised about.

Had Kougami been involved at all? The letter hadn’t said, and Eiji hadn’t asked. Satonaka was certainly able to go behind his back if she wanted to, but could she have done it without her boss finding out? Who else had the strings to pull to make something like this happen, to make documents appear and records be changed? It was beyond even his own family’s means and influence, at least he hoped so. So Kougami was most likely at the heart of this, and most likely there would be favours asked in the future, favours that Eiji would be hard pressed to deny. Because every time he would feel the urge to do so, he would remember this feeling.

Standing there in the airport. On Japanese ground. With Ankh next to him all fidgety and jittery after having been forced to sit still in a plane for too long. The way the fidgeting stilled after a brush of his hand. The way Ankh tensed a moment before he did, because he spotted their friends before Eiji himself did. As always.

He would remember this feeling of everything being right in the world, of talking without having any idea what he was saying because he kept watching their faces. Hina’s eyes lighting up in cautious hope as Chiyoko rushed Ankh for a hug and was not rebuked. Shingo staying at the rear, his eyes seeking out Eiji’s once, before settling back on Hina. Ankh looking like he was wanting to be anywhere but here, and yet suffering the attention.

No. More than suffering. Once Chiyoko had let him go, had let him catch his breath, had let a moment of silence descend on the small group of friends (and family now), then he tilted his head and looked at Hina. Actually looked at her. Questioningly.

There was a moment there of hesitation between the two of them, because Ankh would never take the first step, and Hina… well, Eiji could only imagine what was going through her mind. Probably the same thing that had gone through his after he had got Ankh back, the fact that he had to keep repeating until it finally stuck. That this was not Shingo.

She hugged him anyway. Gently, as if holding something that might shatter. There was a moment there of hesitation, and then Ankh hugged back. Not hard. Just a small, awkward thing, his hands not being entirely sure what to do. But it was enough to make Hina’s eyes tear up as she released him, and honestly enough to make Eiji tear up too.

But he had no reason to shed tears anymore. He was home. With his friends.

Everything was right with the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ((So, sort of an ending for now. My schedule is insane, my deadlines are looming and I’ve got paying shit to write. However, I am not immune to feels, if people actually read this, there’s more ideas in my head. Just so little time.))


End file.
